A Tribute for a Friend
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: Oneshot. Michael goes to his friend Ryan White's grave the day after his funeral.


**Here's a new oneshot I cooked up while listening to the song Gone Too Soon by Michael Jackson. It's a nice tribute to Ryan Wayne White, who was Michael's best friend. Then, on April 8, 1990, Ryan left his suffering body for a strong new life in Heaven, as God had called him home, and, as Ryan was a Christian, he was more than ready to go. Michael, being the good friend that he was, attended Ryan's funeral, and I'm sure he missed him terribly. Now, both Ryan and Michael are reunited in Heaven, and I'm sure Michael would've been pleased and proud to see his fans (including me) keeping his memory alive**.

**Anyway, be sure to R&R, please! :)**

**A Tribute for a Friend  
**

It was a beautiful spring day – it was April 9, 1990. A funeral had been held for Ryan Wayne White the day before. The celebs he had befriended before he had died were all there: Michael Jackson, Elton John, First Lady Barbara Bush and Phil Donahue.

Michael, clutching a bouquet of roses, smiled tearfully as he looked down at Ryan's grave, remembering the funeral.  
_"It was really beautiful,"_ he thought. _"Almost like a celebration of his life."_

He took a deep breath.

"Well, Ryan, I know you're up there in Heaven, with my older sibling Marlon's deceased twin brother Brandon, giving him piggyback rides, and all the hugs and love he could possibly want. That's great, and you are like a big brother to him, which is cool too."

He paused for a moment. Unbeknownst to him, Ryan, now an angel, was listening to every word his idol was saying, a smile on his face.

"That's really great, Michael," he said, although to Michael, it sounded like the wind. "I'm glad I can be a big brother to someone up in Heaven."

"When I attended your funeral yesterday," Michael remembered, "it was really beautiful, and I kept looking up at the ceiling of the church, as you had told me you were a Christian and often prayed for me. It was as though I could see you giving me a smile."

"I did, Michael," said Ryan. "And I'm glad I put you first in my prayers."

"I remember us taking a walk one day, and how I pointed out all these great trees. I also remember how you told me that God loves all people - even people who are homosexual, and that AIDS isn't their fault, just like it isn't your fault. You were right on both counts, Ryan."

"I was, Michael."

At the sight of tears flowing down Michael's cheeks, Ryan wished he could reach up and wipe those tears away with a handkerchief. That was the kind of person he was - always wanting to comfort someone.

Smiling still, Michael wiped away his tears with some tissue, and then remembered what Ryan had told him one day at Michael's Neverland Ranch.

_"I don't like to be, you know, pitied. But I figure, you know, since this is the way the hand was dealt, I got to live this way and I'm gonna try to help anybody I can."_

"Well, Ryan, I have a poem I want to share with you, and I know you're listening."

Ryan perked up. He loved Michael's poetry, and had always applauded after Michael would finish reading one of his poems.

"Well, here goes." Michael took a deep breath, and began to recite.

"_Ryan White, symbol of justice  
Or child of innocence, messenger of love  
Where are you now, where have you gone?_

_Ryan White, I miss your sunny days  
We carelessly frolicked in extended plays_

_I miss you, Ryan White  
I miss your smile, innocent and bright  
I miss your glory, I miss your light_

_Ryan White, symbol of contradiction  
Child of irony, or child of fiction?_

_I think of your shattered life  
Of your struggle, of your strife_

_While ladies dance in the moonlit night  
Champagne parties on chartered cruises  
__I see your wasted form, your ghostly sight  
I feel your festering wounds, your battered bruises_

_Ryan White, symbol of agony and pain  
Of ignorant fear gone insane  
In a hysterical society  
With free-floating anxiety  
And feigned piety._

_I miss you, Ryan White  
You showed us how to stand and fight  
In the rain you were a cloudburst of joy  
The sparkle of hope in every girl and boy_

_In the depths of your anguished sorrow  
Was the dream of another tomorrow."_

When Michael finished, Ryan, smiling still, said,

"I have to admit, Michael, I'm touched. That was - that was really beautiful."

"Well, Ryan, I have to go, but I'll talk to your mom for you. I'm sure she needs my company," said Michael as he placed the roses on the gravestone.

As Michael got to his feet and walked away from Ryan's grave, Ryan picked up the bouquet of roses and sniffed them, then smiled.

"God bless you, Michael Joseph Jackson. You were truly touched by an angel," he said.

Then, a cloud appeared under Ryan's feet, and he was carried up to Heaven.

Heaven - it was truly the place of angels.

**And just so you know, whenever I think of Michael Jackson and Ryan White, I see them as a big brother and a little brother. Plus I also see Michael as a kind of father figure for Ryan, as Michael was kind of like a father and a big brother to all those kids that didn't have a father or a big brother to look out for them. I'm sure God must've been very pleased with Michael. **

**May God bless all of you. :)**

**~Nightcrawlerlover  
**


End file.
